


the heights of terncliff (the heights of grief)

by tyche (marzipan_bubbles)



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Anger, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Please read the author's note!, gaius has a lot of guilt, hallura is very angry, patch 5.3 spoilers, post-sapphire weapon, sorrow of werlyt storyline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:20:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25925770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marzipan_bubbles/pseuds/tyche
Summary: the salty winds over terncliff leave a bitter taste in hallura's mouth.
Relationships: Gaius van Baelsar & Warrior of Light
Comments: 16
Kudos: 13





	the heights of terncliff (the heights of grief)

**Author's Note:**

> hi! been a minute since i posted here! i just wanted to give a brief word before you dip into this piece :)
> 
> hallura has a lot of complex feelings about gaius, a lot of complex negative feelings about him. he's taken a lot from her and until now has shown little to no remorse for the actions he took against her people and family - this fic focuses on the anger that she feels towards him, and doesn't pull punches about how terrible the stuff he did was. i'm not out here to hate on anyone's favorite npc! i just wanted to explore the pain that sorrows of werlyt definitely aroused for hallura's character, and this is how she feels! if this isn't your cup of tea that's totally okay!
> 
> with that being said, if you're interested in finding out more...read on!

“You had a vision, then?” Gaius’ voice is unreadable.

Hallura opens her eyes, recovering from the dizziness of the Echo. She blinks twice, mouth turning down in a grimace. “Yes.”

Gaius does not look at her. “Who was it?”

She furrows her brow. “Ricon. Someone named Ricon.”

Beside her, Gaius lets out a sound, somewhere between an anguished sigh and a groan. “Ricon..? You’re certain?”

“Positive.” Hallura pauses, before adding quietly, “He sent himself to be cannon fodder to protect his brothers and sisters.” Her voice is almost drowned by the sounds of the Ironworks ships retrieving the ruined Sapphire Weapon from the sea, and the ocean wind sweeping over the walls of Terncliff.

“I see.” Hallura sees Gaius tighten his bandaged fist, strained muscles clenching through the wrapping. “He deserved better.” 

_They all deserved better,_ lingers unspoken in the air. Silence falls, and the two of them stand and watch as one of the Ironworks technicians breaks into the cockpit of the Sapphire Weapon.

There’s a sharp hiss of air, followed by shouts as the Ironworks engineers scurry to retrieve the pilot and any data they can get their hands on. Hallura wonders what became of Ricon once he activated the Weapon’s oversoul. She pities him.

As the scene plays out, Gaius exhales, long and slow. Hallura knows that sound - she knows what it means, and her entire body floods with anger.

Before he can completely turn away, she grabs him by the arm, never once moving her gaze from the Sapphire Weapon. 

“Warrior?” Gaius does not attempt to pull away from her grip, but she feels him tense beneath her fingers. 

“I want you to watch,” she says, and the words weigh heavy in her mouth.

He stops breathing.

“Turn around and look,” Hallura commands, low and dark. “I want you to _look_.”

When Gaius hesitates to listen, she tightens her fingers, enough to make him wince. “Do not make me move you myself, Gaius.”

He goes limp, shoulders sagging, before resigning himself to her demand. As he turns to face the sea once more, Hallura lets go of him. 

“You would lay me low like this?” Gaius chuckles despondently; she can hear the pain in his voice. 

The Ironworks team extracts a white glob - a terrible, misshapen _something._ Hallura watches as one of the engineers leans over the airship’s edge to vomit.

She thinks she might be sick, too.

“I would have you see the truth,” she rasps instead, forcing down the taste of bile. “The truth that you’ve blinded yourself to all these years.”

Gaius remains silent. Hallura does not wait for him to reply.

“I always wondered what kind of man could do the things you did,” she says, shaking. “How could someone be so certain his cause was just that he would force it onto the lives of others, even if it meant crushing those people to dust? How could someone treat a precious few with such favor and dignity, while strangling their siblings with his other hand?”

Not even the salty breeze can disguise the smell of something rotting from across the bay.

“Your point, Warrior.” Hallura isn’t sure if Gaius is crying, but the waver in his voice makes her wonder. If he is...the thought fills her with vicious vindication.

“You don’t see the people you claim to love,” she spits out, eyes beginning to burn. “You never have. You stole children from their homes, from families that _loved_ them, you crushed their histories and turned them into little toy soldiers, and you believed you loved them because they made you proud.”

“The children were orphans,” Gaius begins, voice half to breaking.

“I’m not talking about _your_ children,” Hallura snaps, cutting him off. “I’m talking about _all_ the children. Every child whose lands you trampled, every child that you told would only be worthy if they served your monstrous empire, an empire that wanted them all dead. And you turned your eyes away when they died, for _you!_ ”

She takes a step forward, placing one hand on the sea wall and pointing out to the Sapphire Weapon with the other. “Look at him!” she snarls, glaring into Gaius’ face. “Look at the boy you killed. Does it hurt you? Did it hurt to see Milisandia the same way?”

In the dim moonlight, a single tear tracks its way down Gaius’ cheek.

“I hope it does,” Hallura continues, eyes brimming with tears of her own. “I hope it breaks you. Suddenly your empire is real for you, but it’s been real for me - for us,” she adds, pointing again towards Ricon’s corpse, “ - our whole lives. You spent years tearing families apart, only believing yourself above the destruction because the tragedy never touched you. Now your family tears itself apart, and you have only yourself to blame.”

The tears spill over, and Hallura wipes her eyes angrily against her shirt sleeve. Having found an outlet at last, her long-buried bitterness digs its teeth into her heart, and she trembles at its strength. 

“You speak as though you know the pain yourself,” Gaius says gruffly, and Hallura squeezes her eyes shut. 

“Of course I do,” she scoffs, grief roiling in her breast. “You did the same thing to my sister.”

“You...had a sister?”

_“Have,”_ Hallura exhales sharply, pouring her faith into the word. “I _have_ a sister. She became one of your damned child soldiers when she was barely old enough to hold a sword.”

“...and what became of her?” His question lances right through Hallura’s heart. 

“I don’t know.” She turns away from Gaius. “We fought during the battle of Rhalgr’s Reach. And again at Castrum Abania. After that...she disappeared. The leader of the Skulls said she’d been taken to the Garlean homeland. She said...she said my sister chose to go.”

The silence is pregnant with questions. Gaius asks only one.

“What was her name?”

“Would you even remember her if I told you?” Hallura asks accusingly, before letting out a hollow laugh and stepping away. If he cannot recall her name by face - a face Hallura shares - then it’s hopeless. “It doesn’t matter, in the end. You poisoned her mind, just like all the others. But I won’t let her die like them.”

She brushes past him, determined not to let him see her cry again. 

“Her name.”

His voice is firmer this time, and in it, Hallura thinks she can hear the beginning of a new resolve. She shuts her eyes.

“Somaya. Her name is Somaya.” She casts a glance over her shoulder. “Remember it this time.”

Past the whisper of her boots against the cobblestone streets, Hallura hears Gaius murmur, “I swear that I will.”

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi on tumblr! https://alamhigyoooo.tumblr.com/


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